‘I’m not dying today’
Teen who lost mother to grizzly chased by bear herself
COLETTE DERWORIZ
CANMORE, Alta. — The daughter of an Alberta woman who died in a grizzly bear attack in 2005 says she now has a better sense of how her mom felt in the moments before she died thanks to her own run-in with a notorious bear.
Earlier this summer, Lea McCroy was out for a run near Canmore, a picturesque mountain town about 100 km west of Calgary, when she heard a crashing sound in the woods.
“I see part of this grizzly bear, just standing there huffing and puffing,” the 17-year old recalled in an interview.
McCroy was told by officials it was likely Bear 148, a six-anda-half year old female grizzly that was in the area at the time. The bear was relocated a week later to an area north of Jasper National Park after several other close calls with people in the Canmore area.
McCroy said she looked at the bear from a couple metres away for a second, then panicked and ran.
“I was just so scared,” she said. “I thought that was going to be it: ‘What are the chances that this is going to happen to me, too? I’m not dying today. I’m not dying today.’ ”
Her fears were rooted in the death of her mom, Isabelle Dube.
Dube was out jogging with friends near a Canmore golf course on June 5, 2005, when a grizzly bear attacked. She climbed a tree and her friends ran for help, but Dube didn’t survive.
McCroy, who was five years old then, said she’s learned a lot about bear safety since her mom died but admitted she didn’t follow any of those rules when she came faceto-face with a grizzly bear.
“I did all the wrong things,” she said, noting she was out for a run on her own, left her bear spray in the car and ran away when she saw the bear.
Since the incident, however, she has changed her behaviour and thought a lot about her mom.
“I was thinking, in some ways, that this was what my mom was thinking,” said McCroy. “I was thinking maybe I was weak. The bear wasn’t even doing anything and I was running away and being frantic while my mom stood her ground and fought for her life.”
She has also thought a lot about Bear 148, which was relocated out of her home range to Kakwa Wildland Provincial Park.
“I want to protect the bears, I don’t want people to hurt them, I don’t want them to die because of humans,” she said. “There’s obviously territorial bears up there. I hope she can stand her ground and live her life.”
An official with the province said the female grizzly bear is being monitored by a GPS collar in her new home.
“She’s alive and well,” said Brett Boukall, a senior wildlife biologist with Alberta Environment and Parks in Cochrane.
“She’s settled in close to the area where she was dropped off.”